I was honestly relieved at the WHUvARS score last night, was a bit of a 'not being the only kid who didn't do their homework' moment. At least we might not be alone in any humiliation.

You never know, it is football, but I am imagining they will at least score 2 and am not braced for us scoring at all let alone fashioning chances.

The insanity of Hodgson setting us up for nothing more than a 0-0 and failing to achieve it yet again will not change anything however, it will be accepted as a 'well it's Chelsea, what did you expect, Olise/Eze are out etc.' moment.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

It is within the realms of possibilities that it will not be long in the match before our supporters vent their spleens turning Selhurst Park into a tsunami of toxicity.

My mind is set on a 2-0 or 3-0 victory to Chelsea.

Edited by Willo (12 Feb 2024 11.17am)

If the players work hard and keep it tight....0-3 Chelsea.

Old, Ungifted and White

This is the team I think we will start with:

Henderson

Munoz Andersen Richards Mitchell

Hughes Wharton

Ayew Lerma Schlupp

Mateta

Btw, I have no idea why Johnstone is not starting.

Almost as annoying as our poor form is the fact that we have lost something like 12 in a row to Chelsea and conceded the winner late to them in last three of our last four (apologies of my stats are a bit out).

I was just hoping that we score with a badly deflected goal or an OG (remember the JT OG?) and then Chelsea forget where the goal is for the rest of the game but very typical of our luck they've just discovered their form. If they play like they did against Villa I can, like others on here, see a heavy home defeat on the cards.

If we can keep it tight in the first half and put pressure on them I can see us nicking a draw. Chelsea will be desperate if its 0 - 0 at HT.
If they score in the first half and we don't reply then I fear a long second half for us.

COYP

Record crowd 51,482 - The Whitehorse was rocking - Second Div Champs 1978 - 79 ... 'wot a night !

Some of these posts are looking for a defensive park the bus approach in the hope that we can stop them scoring in the first half.
Roy can play and 5-4-1 with all his old troops, even wheeling on Tomkins on to play alongside Hughes and Schlupp. Ayew could drop to play a fully defensive role.
The footballing equivalent of Dads Army, standing on the Polish border in 1939 watching the German tanks approaching.
On the other hand he could go for broke and in a Churchillian pre match speech tell them that it is s*** or bust and that if they are going to go down, then they will go down fighting and he will recite Shakespeare and say
"That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game’s afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry ‘God for Harry, England, and Saint George!’

Following Palace since 25 Feb 1978

I shall be distributing white handkerchiefs outside the main entrance to be waved in unison with some gusto in order to protest against the current state of affairs, as they do in Spain !!

On a serious note let's hope that we surprise all and sundry with applause thundering down like monsoon rain on a tin roof.

If a motivated Chelsea team turn up (and I fully expect that to be the case) then line up and tactics are really unimportant! If we play the same suspects then we will suffer a painful 0-3 defeat! If we throw our unprepared (Roys fault) youngsters into the lions den then 0-3 or worse but we might unearth one or two gems to compliment our returning stars towards the end of the season!

Either way result is dependent on Chelsea’s performance!

Will gift the opposition an early goal (again). Then try and chase the match for the next 80 minutes. nil points.